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The ‘Dune’ star is up for his third Best Actor Academy Award for playing the frentic Marty Mauser in ‘Marty Supreme.’ Mike Bedigan explains what sets Chalamet apart from so many of his peers.
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Timothée Chalamet is in pursuit of greatness. They’re not my words — nor the words of the millions of fans that have made him his generation’s buzziest male actor — but his own.
Last year, while accepting the Screen Actors Guild (now the Actor Awards) award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Chalamet set his sights on immortality. “I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” he said. “I know people don’t usually talk like this but I want to be one of the greats.”
For some Hollywood luvvies, such an earnest statement of intent would seem vainglorious, cringe-worthy, or downright ludicrous. But Chalamet is another story, and he has no intention of tempering that self-belief.
In the seven years since his first Oscar nomination — for his role in Luca Guadagnino’s lush, queer romance Call Me By Your Name — Chalamet has been relentless in his dedication to his craft. He has been harrowing and intense in the addiction drama Beautiful Boy (2018), rakish and lovelorn in Little Women (2019), infectiously whimsical in the Roald Dahl prequel Wonka, and formidable as the lead of the Dune movies.
That first Academy nod made him the third-youngest Best Actor nominee ever and his career has continued to flourish exponentially. His Oscar nomination for A Complete Unknown was his second – now he has four.
open image in galleryTimothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme (A24)Chalamet lost out last year and forfeited his chance to be the youngest-ever winner of the Best Actor Oscar, (it’s still Adrien Brody), but he has remained undeterred. This year his frenetic, self-produced passion project Marty Supreme (for which he reportedly honed his table tennis skills for months) has racked up nine nominations, including in the coveted Best Picture category, and put him in with his best shot yet at picking up Best Actor.
On screen, Chalamet’s go-to character used to be the handsome, smarmy, slightly arrogant young buck (which worked well in Dune, where he played a literal space messiah). But he also excels as the insouciant heartthrob, foppish but brooding — a mode he satirised in Lady Bird, as the chain-smoking, super-cool Kyle opposite Saoirse Ronan. It’s this quality that made him such an excellent pick to play Dylan.
However, Marty Supreme brings yet more strings to Chalamet’s bow, finding him as a chaotic, yet charismatic shyster, hell-bent, unfazed and relentless on achieving his dreams – not unlike the actor himself – until the movie’s very last moments where he finally exposes his tender side. The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey called his turn as Marty Mauser a “career-best performance.”
For the second year in a row, Chalamet has been nominated for many different awards, though he has already claimed Best Actor at the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globes. The wins, both of which he missed out on last year, reinforce him as a consummate player of the Hollywood game, with his high-profile celebrity relationship with super-influencer Kylie Jenner (whom he thanked specifically for the first time this year), eye-catching red carpet fashion choices, and various viral stunts around New York City.
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open image in galleryTimothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the premiere of Marty Supreme (Reuters)Indeed, technical performing ability aside, Chalamet has done well to leverage his status as a Gen Z sweetheart to stay relevant. He is a bona fide box office draw, and a not insignificant reason why films such as Wonka and Dune: Part Two made more than $600m and $700m apiece. Last year, Chalamet’s affability in interviews in Los Angeles record shops, and with influencers including Nardwaur, Brittany Broski and Theo Von, expanded his reach across generations and demographics. Now, a series of publicity stunts for Marty Supreme, including shaving his head, standing on top of the Las Vegas Sphere and mailing a branded jacket to Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle, has proved that it wasn’t just a one-off thing.
There is, at this point, no way of knowing whether or not greatness does in fact lie in store for Chalamet. The result on Oscar night won’t decide it, though it would certainly fortify his legacy. What matters is that he still wants it, and that there are still actors out there who treat their own work and legacy with the utmost seriousness. There are undeniable talents among Chalamet’s generation of stars — people like Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Harrison Dickinson, Paul Mescal. But if they are to be great, they have to seize their chances.
Win or lose, Chalamet is unlikely to be slowed down. Last year, he made it clear that his SAG Award did not signal the end of his aspirations. “It’s a little more fuel, it’s a little more ammo to keep going,” he said. This year, he’s got even more ammo — it’s just a matter of taking the right shot.
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